AlphaZealot made an announcement today concerning the fate of Metaknight on SmashBoards. Starting in 2012, the character will be officially banned from tournament play. AlphaZealot explains the decision;

The Unity Ruleset Committee has come to a majority agreement to ban Meta Knight by a vote of 14-0 with 1 abstaining. In order too ease into this decision and respect the largest Smash tournament on the horizon, the ban will be optional until after Apex 2012. Therefore, on January 9th, it will no longer be optional and all Unity Ruleset events will be Meta Knight banned. Until that time, users may use the Unity Ruleset 2.0 in either form: Meta Knight Banned or Meta Knight Allowed.

This was not a decision made lightly. This is a topic that has dominated the community for many years and far to long. The URC has taken into account many things, among them: community polls on Smashboards and AllisBrawl over the last 2 years, discussions with some of the top players and minds in the community, and most of all, user created data/charts that have kept tabs on the prevalence of Meta Knight at the over 500 tournaments held yearly. It is important to note that each member of the URC who voted had their own reasons, so any number of factors may have influenced their decision. We hope this will begin a new era in the Brawl community, and while we are sure this decision will cause controversy and discussion, we also feel it will ultimately be for the best for the community in the coming years.

Please note: This ban effects tournaments in the US and Canada – as that is the scope of the Unity Ruleset Committee. In addition, this ban is for both Singles and Doubles play.

What do you think, folks? Is this the right direction for the Smash community, or do you even like competitive Smash play? Let me know in the comment section below.

Starcraft 2 News: Greg "IdrA" Fields takes IEM Guangzhao by Storm

EG's Greg "Idra" Fields is crowned the IEM Guangzhou champion and will bring home $6,500 and a spot to the World Championship next year. The American Zerg picked himself up after a shaky group stage start to beat both Puma and Elfi to snatch the gold.

After going through Revival in the Ro8, Idra had to face team-mate and renowned world-class terran Puma. Idra was the first to take a map off of the Korean, who reached the semi-finals completely unchallenged, and he did it in a convincing manner nonetheless. After an unconvincing start in day 1, Idra came back a beast to crush Puma in a flawless manner, sealing the series with a 3-0.

This led to a PvZ final after in the other semi-final Elfi defeated Hasu 3-2 in a close protoss mirror. The Grand Final series completed Idra's redemption as he won the revenge match against the Finnish protoss, who had already defeated him 2-0 in the group stage. With a 3-1 score in the final match, Idra was awarded the title of IEM Guangzhou champion - a title he accepted with his characteristic stone-cold expression.

Their placement at Guangzhou gives both Idra and Elfi seedings into IEM World Championship to be played in March 2012. The foreigners join the company of Puma and MC, who are the IEM Cologne champion and runner-up respectively.

Starcraft 2 News: Cruncher to Retire from Professional Gaming

Cruncher, best known for his win in the TeamLiquid Star League 3 and for his showings at recent MLG events, announced via the Complexity website earlier today that he would be retiring from professional gaming to focus on his college efforts. We here at GameZone applaud Cruncher for his decision to focus on his studies and wish him all the best.

Cruncher will serve out his contract with Complexity until 2012, after which he will be a free agent. Speculation has run rampant in the community that he just couldn't handle his rival, IdrA winning several tournaments or perhaps he finally made a name for himself, something that hes been trying to do since his Warcraft 3 days. Whatever the case, good luck to Cruncher!

This one will be fun folks, I promise. Maximillian of the Assist Me series teamed up with several notable video game rappers including RedRapper to make this parody of Epic Rap Battles of History using Marvel vs Capcom 3 characters, notably Dr. Doom and Wesker. Enjoy!